824 Biographical Accou?it of [May, 



refusal put it out of his power afterwards to commence teacher 

 in the medical school, and gave the medical faculty the melan- 

 Ciioly satisfaction of not being able to enrol among their number 

 the most celebrated professor in Paris. This violent and unjust 

 conduct of the faculty of medicine made a deep impression in 

 the mind of Fourc^'oy, and contributed not a little to the subse- 

 quent downfall of that powerful body. 



Fourcroy being thus entitled to practise in Paris, his success 

 depended entirely upon the reputation which he could contrive 

 to establish. For this purpose he devoted himself to the sciences 

 connected with medicine, as the shortest and most certain road 

 by which he could reach his object. His first writings showed 

 DO predilection for any particular branch of science. He wrote 

 upon chemistry, anatomy, and on natural history. He published 

 an Abridgmejit of the History of Insects, and a Description of 

 the Bursce Mucosce of the Tendons. This last piece seems to 

 have given him the greatest celebrity : for in 1785 he was 

 admitted, in consequence of it, into the Academy of Sciences 

 as an anatomist ; but the reputation of Bucquet, which at that 

 time was very high, gradually directed his particular attention to 

 chemistry, and he retained this predilection during the rest of 

 his life. 



Bucquet was at that time professor of chemistry in the medi- 

 cal school of Paris, and was then greatly celebrated and followed, 

 on account of his eloquence and the elegance of his language. 

 Fourcroy became in the first place his pupil^ and soon after his 

 particular friend. One day, when an unforeseen disease pre- 

 vented him from lecturing as usual, he entreated M. de Four- 

 croy to supply his place. The young philosopher at first 

 declined, and alleged his total ignorance of the method of 

 addressing a popular audience. But, overcome by the persuasions 

 of Bucquet, he at last consented ; and in this his first essay, he 

 spoke two hours without disorder or hesitation^ and acquitted 

 himself to the satisfaction of his whole audience. Bucquet soon 

 after substituted him in liis place, and it was in his laboratory 

 and in his class-room that he first made himself acquainted with 

 chemistry. He was enabled at the death of Bucquet, in conse- 

 quence of an advantageous marriage which he had made, to 

 purchase the apparatus and cabinet of his master ; and although 

 the Faculty of Medicine would not allow him to succeed to the 

 chair of Bucquet, they could not prevent him from succeeding 

 to his reputation. 



There was a kind of college established in the King*s Garden, 

 winch was at that time under the superintendance of Bufibn, 

 and Macquer was the professor of chemistry in this institution. 

 On the death of this chemist, in l/S'^? Lavoisier stood candi- 

 date for ifie chair. But Buflbn received more than a hundred 



